Related papers: The Plasma Puddle as a Perturbative Black Hole
We argue for the existence of plasma-balls - meta-stable, nearly homogeneous lumps of gluon plasma at just above the deconfinement energy density - in a class of large N confining gauge theories that undergo first order deconfinement…
We have recently proposed a model for a regular black hole, or an ultra-compact object, that is premised on having maximally negative radial pressure throughout the entirety of the object's interior. This model can be viewed as that of a…
We propose that the growth of supermassive black holes is associated mainly with brief episodes of highly super-Eddington infall of gas ("hyperaccretion"). This gas is not swallowed in real time, but forms an envelope of matter around the…
It is shown that a gravitationally collapsing black hole acts as an ultrahigh energy particle accelerator that can accelerate particles to energies inconceivable in any terrestrial particle accelerator, and that when the energy E of the…
A critique of the singularity theorems of Penrose, Hawking, and Geroch is given. It is pointed out that a gravitationally collapsing black hole acts as an ultrahigh energy particle accelerator that can accelerate particles to energies…
Hawking radiation elucidates black holes as quantum thermodynamic systems, thereby establishing a conceptual bridge between general relativity and quantum mechanics through particle emission phenomena. While conventional theoretical…
We consider strongly coupled field theories at large N on black hole backgrounds. At sufficiently high Hawking temperature T_H, one expects a phase where the black hole is in equilibrium with a deconfined plasma. We explore this phase in…
Black shells have been proposed as black hole mimickers, i.e. horizonless ultra-compact objects that replace black holes. In this paper, we assume the existence of black shells and consider their thermodynamic properties, but remain…
A coherent picture of the quantum mechanics of a collapse-formed, evaporating black hole is presented. In a distant frame, semiclassical theory in the zone describes microscopic dynamics of only the "hard modes," the modes that are hard…
A different reason for the apparent weakness of the gravitational interaction is advanced, and its consequences for Hawking evaporation of a Schwarzschild black hole are investigated. Proceeding from some fundamental thermodynamic…
Acoustic analogues of Kerr black hole in plasmas are considered, by taking for granted the existence of acoustic ion waves in plasmas. An effective black holes (BH) in curved Riemannian spacetime in a random walk plasmas is endowed with a…
We consider the early universe at temperatures close to the fundamental scale of gravity (M_D << M_Planck) in models with extra dimensions. At such temperatures a small fraction of particles will experience transplanckian collisions that…
We establish a quantum measure of classicality in the form of the occupation number, $N$, of gravitons in a gravitational field. This allows us to view classical background geometries as quantum Bose-condensates with large occupation…
By analysing the infinite dimensional midisuperspace of spherically symmetric dust universes, and aply it to collapsing dust stars, one finds that the general quantum state is a bound state. This leads to discrete spectrum. In the case of a…
We describe 4D evaporating black holes as quantum field configurations by solving the semi-classical Einstein equation $G_{\mu\nu}=8\pi G \langle \psi|T_{\mu\nu}|\psi \rangle$ and quantum matter fields in a self-consistent manner. As the…
Considering a generalised action for Einstein Maxwell theory in four dimensions coupled to scalar and pseudo-scalar fields, the thermodynamic properties of asymptotically flat black holes solutions in such a background are investigated.…
Almost all of the entropy in the universe is in the form of Bekenstein--Hawking (BH) entropy of super-massive black holes. This entropy, if it satisfies Boltzmann's equation $S=\log{\cal N}$, hence represents almost all the accessible phase…
Two thermodynamic "paradoxes" of black hole physics are re-examined. The first is that there is a thermal instability involving two coupled blackbody cavities containing two black holes, and second is that a classical black hole can swallow…
We review some recent results obtained for black holes using effective field theory methods applied to quantum gravity, in particular the unique effective action. Black holes are complex thermodynamical objects that not only have a…
Black holes, dark energy, and the Higgs field are all currently established, exciting, and mysterious, each in its own way. Cosmological data show that dark energy may evolve with time. The electroweak phase transition during stellar…